Mumbai: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will take over as Maharashtra Chief Minister today and head a Sena-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)-Congress alliance. He is likely to be sworn in with six ministers-two from each party.

 

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The ministers likely to be sworn in this evening are the Shiv Sena’s eknath Shinde and Subhash Desai, NCP’s Jayant Patil and Chhaggan Bhujbal and Congress’s Balasaheb Thorat and Ashok Chavan.

NCP’s Ajit Pawar, who returned to the party fold after an 80 hour stint as Deputy Chief Minister of a BJP-led government may remarkably get the same post in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. Sources say he may however face stiff competition in the form of party colleague Jayant Patil, who had replaced him as chief of the NCP-legislature party during his short-lived rebellion.

 

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The Congress will be given the post of Speaker, for which the name of former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan is being speculated.

Of the 43 Maharashtra ministries, the Sena is likely to get 16, the NCP 15 and the Congress 12. The allocation of ministries is yet to be decided, say sources, indicating tough negotiations ahead.